Charlie -
Without being "brand specific", my experience indicates that this technology
is "not here yet" with regard to accurately and efficiently doing post-reflow
inspection.  Inspecting shiny solder joints of varying size and shape and
reliably and repeatably determining which ones are good and which ones are
rejectable is a tall order.  Notice the degree of subjectivity with human
inspection.  Most human inspection processes achieve around 30% accuracy - and
that's a good, well-trained inspector armed with good workmanship standards.
No doubt this is an extremely important area that needs to be automated but I
don't think we're here yet.  Getting closer, though.  I, personally give it
another 1 - 1.5 years.  If you can wait before you plop down your $250K, it
might be advantageous.
By the way, a colleague of mine at Cognex told me you can tell how long a
vision inspection company has been in business. It's like determining a tree's
age by counting the rings.  Count the number of cameras they use.  Each year
they are in business, they add another camera to attempt to get the job done.

Regards,

Phil Zarrow
ITM, Inc.
Durham, NH  USA
www.ITM-SMT.com

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